Veteran Kevin Quinn of Livingston County is one of two students at West Kentucky Community and Technical College to be named to the 2013 All-KCTCS Academic Team.
Quinn is among 91 students who will be recognized at WKCTC’s honors ceremony Monday, May 13 at 6 pm.in the Clemens Fine Arts Center.
The All-KCTCS Academic Team is sponsored by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System and recognizes outstanding students of community and technical colleges. The selected students successfully represent high achievement in the areas of scholarship, service and leadership.
“Being selected to the All-KCTCS Academic Team is the cherry on top of a phenomenal year,” Quinn said. “I just can't believe I was selected for being myself.”
For 23 years, Quinn worked on nearly every type of aircraft the Air Force owned, got to travel and live all over the world with his wife and children. But when he retired in 2007, another life journey began. Struggling to find a job where he could use the skills he learned in the military, Quinn got a job at Wal-Mart to support his family. He eventually found the kind of job he looking for; he built business jets at Hawker Beechcraft near his home in Colorado. But Quinn had to begin again when he was laid-off following the effects of the economic downturn on the aircraft company.
The possibility of working with friends brought Quinn and his family to Paducah. While looking for work, he spent time on his hobbies; his favorite being anything computer related. “In the fall of 2011, I summoned all my courage and started the Information Technology program at WKCTC, “ Quinn said. ”I wasn’t a great student in high school and that was two decades ago, so I was more than a little apprehensive about starting college. But I’ve taken a lot of great classes, been taught by incredible professors and learned far more than I ever expected.”
During an internship at Genesis Health Technologies, a new Paducah company that just launched a revolutionary blood glucose meter, Quinn worked on their web portal and their online database. He has now been offered a full-time position with the company. “I didn’t know where this current journey would lead when I started, but I sure am glad I had the courage to begin and I can’t wait to see where it goes.”
Quinn will receive the Information Technology Outstanding Student Award and be recognized for the Who's Who Among Students in American Junior Colleges at the honors ceremony. The following Livingston County residents will also receive honors on May 13.
- Jeffery Abel - Information Technology Outstanding Student Award; Who's Who Among Students in American Junior Colleges
- Amber Biggers - Who's Who Among Students in American Junior Colleges
- Kathern Hayes - Advanced Nursing Assistant Honor Award
- Destiny Lee - West Kentucky College Academy Student Achievement Award
- Kristie Stokes - R.N. Nightingale Award
- Joseph Wood - Excellence in Social Science
- Quinn and Graves County resident, Roy Henley, also an All-KCTCS Academic Team member, will be student speakers at the college’s graduation ceremonies on May 14 at the Luther F. Carson Four Rivers Center.